The lesson to be learned from this budget is that New Yorkers need to keep the pressure on their governor, senators and Assembly members. If they become partisan hacks, they need to be voted out of office and replaced by a representative who sees the bigger picture: Keeping the government of this incredibly diverse state moving. Such an effort requires humility and the ability to compromise.

If New York voters become complacent, it is a safe bet that late budgets will again crop up in a year or two, because few faces in the Legislature will have changed by then.

I have to say that the timing of the budgets is just one small facet of the problem, maybe good for headlines but not that meaningful otherwise. It was perhaps wise to pass a budget on the parts lawmakers could agree on instead of holding the rest hostage to more contentious issues, but there's a long way to go before New York's budget process, much less its legislative process, makes sense.